The development is helping fuel the concerns of some community groups that the area might get too expensive for long-time residents.

Other new Chinatown developments under way include a mixed-use project called Canal Tower, at 86 Canal St., where construction has started on a 12-story residential building with 89 units, commercial space and 900 square feet earmarked for community use.

The owner is the Wing Fung Realty Group.

Some believe the growth is good for the area and that long-time residents are protected.

“There are 5,000 dwelling units in our neighborhood, and 4,200 are rent regulated,” says Wellington Chun, the executive director of the Chinatown Partnership. “Our area has one of the highest concentrations of public housing.”

The Wyndham project also continues to attract controversy associated with the demolition and evacuation of a neighboring building on Hester Street.

A local advocacy group, Asian Americans For Equality, is planning to protest the opening because they claim the construction of the hotel played a part in the building’s deterioration and are seeking compensation.

Some of the investors who developed the hotel also have ties to the Hester Street property. They have denied the charges of the advocacy group, and the two sides are awaiting a decision in the wake of a settlement hearing they attended with the Department of Housing and Community Renewal.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, some of the owners of 128 Hester St., offered to personally reimburse the tenants with cash compensation through face-to-face meetings. But they said they wouldn’t negotiate through Asian Americans For Equality, which they accused of “bully tactics.”

“We look forward to rectifying the difficulty you have suffered,” the owners said in a letter to tenants released at the press conference.

Peter Gee, director of Housing and Community Services at Asian Americans for Equality said: “They have been making these accusations for weeks and what they are saying just isn’t true because nothing has changed and they have not made a serious offer to the tenants.”

Wyndham is the hotel operator and is not part of the development group.

Wyndham has declined to comment on the charges by the tenants.—Yaffi Spodek